MANILA –The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) promises to have a worthwhile exchange of ideas on improving the state of telecommunications in the country as it is set to hold the Philippine Telecommunications Summit next month.

DICT Secretary Rodolfo Salalima reiterated the importance of information and communications technology (ICT)’s contribution to education, governance and people empowerment in the country.

He emphasized that it is imperative to develop a robust ICT infrastructure that will further improve mobile communications in the country.

According to Salalima, the cost, speed and coverage of the Internet must be urgently addressed by the department and the mobile network service providers through the summit.

He also said that various concerns raised by the telco companies such as the streamlining of the permitting process of local government units (LGUs) for the installation of additional cell sites, frequency assignments for new players in the telco industry, among others, should also be resolved.

“The summit is a no holds barred session. I want the problems and challenges all out during the Summit, because if not, we will not know how to find a solution,” he said in a press conference Wednesday in Quezon City, which was attended by the heads of the DICT, Philippine Chamber of Telecommunications Operators (PCTO) and representatives from Globe Telecom and Smart Communications.

For his part, PCTO Chairman Eric De Los Reyes said it is important to foster cooperation among the leading telco players to implement concrete solutions that will address the challenges being faced by the industry.

“The consensus among all players is to work on concrete solutions. It will not be a blame game. This way, we will be able to move forward and fast track ICT,” according to him.

The Philippine Telecomummications Summit will be held on March 9-10, 2017 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City.

The DICT, in partnership with the PCTO and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), will gather the telecommunications industry’s stakeholders, comprising of government agencies and regulators, industry players, experts, and consumers in one event to address the problems and issues surrounding the state of telecommunications in the country today.

With the goal of using Telecommunications as a tool for nation building, the two-day summit serves as a vehicle towards better Internet and telecoms services.

“Cooperation among the stakeholders is very important on this summit,” Salalima stated.